Arthur Peter Keaveney (8 July 1951 – 23 June 2020) was an Irish historian.

Biography

Keaveney was born in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

and was educated there ( St Joseph's Patrician College and

University College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

). In 1975 he moved to

Hull University , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

to work on PhD on

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had t ...

, which was later expanded and published as a book. Keaveney was a Doctoral fellow at

University of Wales, Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

, from 1978 to 1979. From 1979 to 2014, he was a lecturer and reader in ancient history at the

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

, specialising in Republican Rome and Achaemenid Persia. According to Herbert Heftner, his second edition of a biography of

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla had ...

, published in 2005, is one of the works "to which we owe significant advances in knowledge of Roman history around the turn of the 2nd to the 1st century BC."Herbert Heftner: ''Von den Gracchen bis Sulla. Die römische Republik am Scheideweg 133-78 v. Chr''. Regensburg 2006. S. 9. His

Lucullus Lucius Licinius Lucullus (; 118–57/56 BC) was a Roman general and statesman, closely connected with Lucius Cornelius Sulla. In culmination of over 20 years of almost continuous military and government service, he conquered the eastern kingdom ...

biography has been translated into

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

. In 2013, Keaveney was an honorary president of the Classical Association of Ireland. He remained an emeritus reader at the University of Kent after retirement and continued his research, which included Achaemenid Persia and the miracles of

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

as depicted in the

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

windows. He was working on a monograph on the Persian court at the time of his death. Keaveney died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland The COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the Republic of Ireland, it has resulted in 1 ...

on 23 June 2020.

Selected bibliography

* ''Sulla. The Last Republican''. London 1982. * ''Rome and Unification of Italy''. London 1987. * ''Lucullus. A Life''. London 1992. * ''The life and journey of Athenian statesman Themistocles (524-460-B.C.?) as a refugee in Persia.'' Lewiston, 2003. * ''The army in the Roman revolution''. London 2007. * (with Madden, J.) ''Sir William Herbert Ad Campianum Iesuitam Eiusque Rationes Decem Responsio''. Georg Olms Verlag, 2009. * ''The Persian Invasions of Greece''. Barnsley, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keaveney, Arthur 1951 births 2020 deaths Academics of the University of Kent Alumni of the University of Galway Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland Historians of ancient Rome People educated at St Joseph's Patrician College 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians